Australian Formula One Grand Prix: The moment Daniel Ricciardo grew up

Matt Clayton

As someone who routinely tallies close to 100 flights a year, Daniel Ricciardo had heard it all before. "Bring your seat back into the upright position, stow your tray table …" began the announcement as his flight started its descent into Montreal for last year's Canadian Formula One Grand Prix. But this time something felt different, was different. The butterflies in the stomach, the excited energy, the memories of that maiden F1 win in the same city in 2014. This was where his 2015 campaign would turn around. It had to, didn't it?

Five days later, as the post-race pack-up of the paddock picked up the pace as Formula One prepared to return to Europe, that excitement, that energy, had turned to despair, confusion, anger. A year after the biggest moment of his career, seven races into what was supposed to be a tilt at the 2015 world title, Ricciardo had finished 13th in yet another race won by the Mercedes team he had beaten three times the year before. Something had to change. Enough was enough.

On track: Daniel Ricciardo has learnt to control his emotions. Photo: Getty Images

Frustrated and at a loss for answers, Ricciardo sat down at an impromptu meeting. Personal trainer and close confidant Stuart Smith, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, motor sport advisor Dr Helmut Marko, and race engineer Simon Rennie took up chairs. Expectations needed to be reset. Support was sought and promised. And Ricciardo knew he could improve, vowed that he would. It was a moment that, in years to come, might go down as the moment he really grew up as an F1 driver. Ricciardo can laugh about it now, but he knows that Canada was where his approach to the sport took a necessary reset.

"When I was on the plane and as I landed, I had this feeling, this excitement. It's something that's hard to explain in words," he remembers.

"Maybe I saw it as the race that things would turn around because of what had happened there before – maybe I was just hoping it would. But it was one of those weekends where nothing worked on track, I was chasing my tail the whole time, and that just had me as pissed off as I've ever been.

"I needed to be better. I realised that if I stayed like that, you end up in a downward spiral. I had to accept the situation - I didn't have to like it, but I had to accept it - and I had to find a way to be better and look at the bigger picture. A downward spiral has the potential that it can drag you down further, and if it gets out of control, it could get you out of a seat in F1. I still had a job to do, and I still had to try to keep my reputation high."

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Renault's underpowered engine meant Ricciardo's renewed approach after Montreal produced only occasional results of note, but his biggest gains since have been made off-track. There has been, as he sees it, a necessary flattening out of the peaks and troughs of the adrenalin-fuelled roller-coaster any F1 driver inevitably gets carried away by.

Ever since last season finished, Ricciardo has been bombarded with questions about a potential bounce-back campaign in 2016. What does he anticipate from this season? Where does Red Bull, with its new TAG Heuer-branded Renault engine, see itself in the pecking order? There is not much that wipes the smile from Ricciardo's face at any time, but mere mention of the word "expectations" sees an unusual furrowing of his brow and an atypically laboured response.

"There are so many circumstances you can't control and things that are unpredictable, so sometimes expectations can create more emotion that you need," he says, slowly and carefully.

"Last year I expected to come in and fight for a championship, and that was how I had my mind prepared. With that mindset it's easier to get frustrated, because you're thinking you should be top three, and you're not. It's natural to set high targets, but reducing expectations helps to control your emotions, and I think that has helped me."

It's an answer the 2011 version of Ricciardo, braces on his teeth and simply happy to be there on his F1 debut at that year's British Grand Prix, would never have contemplated. But it's also one in keeping with the 26-year-old's maturity as a man, his reputation as a racer and his increasing ease in being considered one of the sport's marquee attractions.

With starlets such as Toro Rosso's 18-year-old sensation Max Verstappen and 21-year-old Mercedes protege Pascal Wehrlein of Manor bringing down the average age of the 2016 grid, Ricciardo is initially taken aback when he is told just nine drivers are older than he. What he is more aware of is that age increases responsibility, and that with that comes an extra emphasis on leadership. On that front, he has learnt his lessons well.

While he spent just one year as teammate to Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull in 2014 and outperformed the four-time world champion against all expectations, Ricciardo observed Vettel's leadership, his ability to have a team bond together and work towards a common goal, and see how Michael Schumacher's mentorship had rubbed off on his German colleague.

With Vettel gone to Ferrari and 21-year-old Russian Daniil Kvyat in the sister Red Bull car, it was time for Ricciardo to show the way last year. With that came a greater self-awareness, a realisation that his mood could paint a public picture of his team that perhaps he didn't want, or shouldn't do.

"There were definitely times last year when I'd want to do or say something and then realise that maybe I need to hold back and manage this better, because everyone's looking at you and your reactions," he says.

"Naturally, sometimes frustration gets the best of you and you have to say, 'No, I'm not going to put on a brave face', but you have to pick your moments. You've got to be sensible and aware that if you do spit the dummy, it could have a negative effect on everyone. I think I said things when they needed to be said, but bit my tongue when they didn't. It's a process of maturity, not being too irrational, and one I feel like I'm more ready for."

Part of that maturity is daring to look ahead for the first time in his career. From the moment he made it to F1, Ricciardo has had numerous offers to grow his "brand", dabble in things outside of motor sport, expand his horizons. Initially, until he had proved to himself that he should be in F1 and could stay there, his focus was the next corner of the next lap of the next race.

Now, his gaze stretches further, acknowledging that, as his career heads towards its 100th Grand Prix start, this season in Germany soon after his 27th birthday, he is approaching F1 middle age.

"Things change with age and maturity, and you become a bit more sentimental, you start to put things in their right place more," Ricciardo says.

"Now I'm actually earning money from racing, so you're thinking about investing it, what you want to do with it, and you become aware that racing doesn't last forever. You can't just stop doing everything at 35 years old and start from there, you need other things in place.

"There are so many people who have been involved in the sport for so long, and you can learn so much by seeking them out, talking, listening to them. It's something I do a lot more. I'm a sponge. DC [former racer David Coulthard] once told me that 'I'm this age and I've made so many mistakes, so why should you make the same amount?' He's been very open with me, and he's changed my approach.

"The younger guys are coming to me now to pick my brain too, and that's cool with me. I'm happy to share some of my experiences. It's what we should do."

That heightened sense of perspective is also why, no matter his result in Melbourne on Sunday, Ricciardo will take something away from the first race of 2016. Last year's struggles and how he adjusted to cope with his career trajectory taking a downward arc taught him plenty.

"The one thing I'm really happy with is that I felt like I learnt a lot last year," he says.

"The point that you stop learning is the point where you start to get a little bit worried. Some of the harder times, I took a lot out of those. I know they'll help me in the future."